Jul. 24, 2013

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Max Scherzer. / Associated Press

Written by

Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

CHICAGO — Max Scherzer, who is one of the union representatives for the Detroit Tigers, said Ryan Braun’s 65-game suspension “doesn’t fit the crime.”

“With the Braun case, I think it’s absolutely despicable how he handled it,” Scherzer said before today’s game at U.S. Cellular Field. “I’m glad he got caught. He went out of his way to try to bring people down and cover up his lies and now he looks like Lance Armstrong.”

Armstrong for years denied allegations of doping throughout his cycling career before finally admitting he did this year.

Braun was suspended, but the specifics of his violation have not been revealed.

“There’s so much player outrage towards him because of how brash he was against MLB and how brash he was in his defense,” Scherzer said.

Scherzer said he thought the game would be cleaned up by 50-game suspensions being put in place. That alone hasn’t been enough to deter people from using performance-enhancing drugs.

“I think you gotta commend MLB for doing its homework to find everything possible it needed to make the suspension stick and for him not to get off on a technicality,” Scherzer said of Braun. “I still don’t think the punishment fits the crime. MLB hasn’t closed the loophole to create the incentive to cheat. He still has his contract and he’s still financially gaining from this.”

The Brewers will still owe Braun $113 million after this year.

Scherzer said he’d be in favor of Braun’s contract being voided.

“You gotta start cutting out contracts,” Scherzer said. “I’m for that. The only problem with that is the difference between Ryan Braun and Freddy Galvis.”

Galvis, a second baseman for the Phillies, was suspended 50 games for testing positive for Performance Enhancing Drugs.

Scherzer said Galvis “unintentionally used a foot cream that had a trace amount of steroids in it. That’s a situation we could all be in. I feel there’s a big difference between the Freddy Galvis thing and what Ryan Braun has done.”

Scherzer thinks the game won’t be rid of PEDs until that incentive to gain financially is taken away.

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“We’re fed up with that,” Scherzer said. “We want to see either longer suspensions or whatever it takes to create that incentive, that financial gain away from players. Whether that’s voiding contracts, whether that’s longer contracts. You’re seeing every player jump on board that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.”

Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said the system works.

“If you get caught, the system has to work,” Hunter said. “(Braun) got caught. He’s going to do his time. Move on from there. I don’t think there’s no black eye on baseball. You’re going to always have somebody break the rules. When they get caught, they have to be punished for it.”

Does he view Braun differently now that he has been suspended?

“I’m totally different from what a lot of people are,” Hunter said. “I forgive. I forgive. He did what he did. And I forgive him. It takes a man to forgive. I forgive him. Let me dig in your closet and see how many skeletons I pull up.”

As for other players who may be facing suspension, Scherzer said: “You gotta let them come out and say what their intent was. I feel there’s a difference between unintentionally taking something….yes, you have to serve a suspension, but to me that’s possible. Then there’s the intent to cheat. …For people that intentionally cheat, I have no sympathy for it.”

■NO COMMENT:Jhonny Peralta declined to comment Monday though a media relations spokesperson after Braun’s suspension was announced. Today, he declined to comment to a pair of reporters who approached him at his locker stall.

Peralta’s name was found in the Biogenesis records in February and Sports Illustrated quoted Peralta as saying through an attorney that “I have never used performance-enhancing drugs. Period. Anybody who says otherwise is lying.”

Peralta entered today’s game first among AL shortstops with 26 doubles, a .301 average and a .454 on-base percentage.

“Every day I try to come in here and try to play the game,” Peralta said. “After that, I don’t have any comment.”

Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple.

Beat writer John Lowe will answer your questions about the Tigers in a live chat at 11 a.m. Wednesday at freep.com/sports. Submit early questions here. Then join special writer Sean Merriman for a live blog of the Tigers-White Sox game Thursday afternoon.